TCP Heroes
by Rossi
Summary: What makes a hero?


This story is pretty bleak. I'm warning you now, if you're easily upset, perhaps you should skip this one. There is some pretty graphic senseless violence, and some pretty traumatic themes. But I think it needed to be written: in fact, the bloody thing wouldn't leave me alone.  
  
Disclaimer: Mutants are Marvel's, the Common People project is Kielle's. The rest is mine. Portland High School is not intentionally a real place, but if it is, none of this is real.  
  
Rating: MA, for mature readers. Contains language and some pretty distressing imagery.  
  
Feedback: Send your thanks, complaints and abuse to rossifics@yahoo.com.au  
  
TCP: Heroes (1/1).  
  
By Rossi.  
  
Transcript of 911 call 23/4/1999 14:15 hours.  
  
911 Operator: "911. What is your emergency?"  
  
Caller: [unintelligible sobbing]  
  
911 Operator: "You have called 911. Is there an emergency?"  
  
Caller: "H-he's k-killing everyone!"  
  
911 Operator: "Repeat that, caller. You said, 'He's killing everyone?'"  
  
Caller: "Yes, he's got a gun and he's shooting people. We need help here!"  
  
911 Operator: "Who are you and where are you calling from?"  
  
Caller: "Toby Meyer. I'm at Portland High School. I'm on a pay phone in the hall. Please hurry! Send the cops, send the ambulance! Hell, send the fucking National Guard if you can!"  
  
[Screams and gunfire in the background]  
  
Caller: "Oh my God, oh my God! The fucker just shot Mrs. Collins! There's so much blood, she's bleeding everywhere! Oh God! Here he comes!"  
  
[More gunfire. Caller screams]  
  
911 Operator: "Toby, are you there? Please respond."  
  
[laboured breathing and groaning]  
  
911 Operator: "Toby, are you injured?"  
  
[more heavy breathing, a gurgling noise, then silence.]  
  
911 Operator: "Toby, are you still on the line? Police and ambulance are on their way."  
  
[no response]  
  
911 Operator: "Oh my God, I think he's been shot. I think we've lost him."  
  
"We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin. Reports have come through of a mass shooting at Portland's local high school. Details are still not clear, however it is believed the single gunman is a student at the school, and may be holding several students hostage. Survivor accounts indicate the death toll may be as high as thirty. We will bring you further news as it comes to hand, and a full report on this evening's news bulletin. We now return you to your scheduled programming."  
  
Excerpt from police radio records 23/4/99 15:35 hours.  
  
Base: "Unit 241, are you in position? Over."  
  
241: "Affirmative, Base, I am in position. I can see the target. Over."  
  
Base: "What's happening in there? Over."  
  
241: "We've got the suspect, Caucasian male approximately 16 years old, dark hair, pale complexion, wearing a long black coat and jeans. Over."  
  
Base: "Copy that. Over."  
  
241: "Suspect is armed. Repeat, suspect is armed. I can see a hunting rifle on his back, and he's holding a sawn-off shotgun. He may have more weapons under the coat. Suspect appears agitated. Over."  
  
Base: "Are there any hostages? Over."  
  
241: "Difficult to see. No, wait, he's pulling someone out from under a table. He's holding the sawn-off to her head. Oh my God! Oh no! Oh Jesus, he's just blown her head off!"  
  
Base: "Can you take him down 241? Over."  
  
241: [unintelligible]  
  
Base: "Repeat that 241. Can you take him down before he kills anyone else? Pull yourself together, Davies! Those kids are depending on you. Over."  
  
241: "N-no s-sir. I can't get a clear shot. He's moving pretty erratically, and I can't be sure I won't hit anyone else. He's- wait, what does she think she's doing?"  
  
Base: "Clarify that, 241. What does who think she's doing? Over."  
  
241: "There's a girl coming up behind the suspect, she's reaching out to grab him. Oh God, she's gonna get herself killed for sure. No, wait, there's this light! She must be a mutie!"  
  
Base: "Davies, what the hell's happening in there?"  
  
241: "I'm not sure, I've never seen anything like it. There's a light around the girl and the suspect, some kinda force field. He can't get out of it. The hostages are fleeing through the library door: tell Beta Squad to meet them. Over."  
  
Base: "Copy that. Relaying message. Over."  
  
241: "He's trying to shoot his way out, but it's not working. I don't think she can keep it up- she's looking pretty shaky. The suspect's worked it out: he's shouting something at her. He's pulled the shotgun on her. Oh no, she's down!"  
  
Base: "What is the suspect's position? Can you get a shot? Over."  
  
241: "He's just standing there. Damn bookcase is partially blocking my shot. I can't get him- no, wait, he's dropped the gun! He's grabbing his head, like he's in pain. What's she doing to him? He's down! The suspect is down!"  
  
Base: "Tactical units, move to location now. Suspect is down, and hostages are safe. Repeat, suspect is down, but approach with caution."  
  
Tactical unit leader: "Roger that, Base. Proceeding to location now. Over."  
  
241: "Absolutely fucking incredible. I've never seen anything like it."  
  
Portland Herald 25/4/1999 page one.  
  
TOWN MOURNS LOST INNOCENCE.  
  
Portland today was a town in mourning as the death toll in the country's worst mass killing was confirmed at thirty-eight: four teachers and thirty- four students. Another twelve remain in hospital with gunshot wounds, two in critical condition. The gunman, who also died, was identified as fifteen- year-old Donny Osborne, a student at the school until his expulsion last week. Osborne entered the school shortly after two o' clock yesterday afternoon armed with a high-powered hunting rifle, a shotgun he allegedly had sawn off himself, and a hand gun. Dozens of rounds of ammunition and several home-made petrol bombs were also recovered from the scene.  
  
It is believed Osborne commenced his spree in his former classroom, killing several classmates and his home room teacher Mrs. Edith Collins. He then proceeded down the main hall to the library, spraying classrooms with bullets. At the library he held approximately twenty students hostage, killing five. Eyewitness accounts suggest Osborne targeted minority groups such as blacks and mutants. He was a known follower of many hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Friends of Humanity, and described as "kind of creepy" and "obsessed with weapons".  
  
It is yet unclear how Osborne was stopped, but friends of one of the victims, Cathy Wilson, who was in the library at the time of the hostage drama, claim Cathy may have been responsible. Cathy, 17, was a known mutant, and while the nature of her powers isn't clear, it is believed she used them in some way to stop the carnage.  
  
A memorial mass for the victims will be held next Sunday at Eisenhower Park.  
  
Extract from Donny Osborne's Web Site: "Faces of Menace"  
  
"Today I do a great thing. I intend to purge my former school of the elements that got me expeled (sic). Death to the Niggers, the chinks, the spics. Death to the disease-ridded (sic) Muties who's (sic) existance (sic) threatens us all with there (sic) mutie plague. I won't let there (sic) kind contaminate human schools with their filth. They all must die!  
I dont (sic) expect to survive. But my death will be a great thing. I will be a Hero to human kind. My name will be remembered."  
  
Taken from the Medical Examiner's reports:  
  
Subject: Catherine Anne Wilson DOB: 10 May 1981 DOD: 24 April 1999.  
  
Subject is a seventeen year old female, of healthy appearance. Height is five feet six inches, weight one hundred and ten pounds. Hair colour is blond, eye colour is green.  
  
Cause of death appears to be gunshot trauma to the lower abdomen. Damage is widespread, indicating the weapon was fired at a close range. Death was not immediate: blood in her airway suggests she was breathing after being shot, and died five to ten minutes after.  
  
Medical history indicates the deceased was a mutant: she attended her local doctor with severe headaches at the age of thirteen, and the usual DNA testing was performed. Further tests will be conducted to confirm this.  
  
Subject: Donny Arthur Osborne. DOB: 12 February 1984. DOD 24 April 1999.  
  
Subject is a fifteen year old male. Height five feet two, weight ninety pounds. Hair colour dark brown, eye colour blue. Subject appears somewhat undernourished and unwashed.  
  
Cause of death not apparent on preliminary examination. Subject has evidence of bleeding from the ears, eyes and nose, which may indicate some kind of brain trauma.  
  
Further examination of the brain indicates a large amount of pressure was exerted upon it. No injury to the skull, which means the pressure was not external. Some kind of force appears to have "squeezed" the subject's brain to death. Statements from witnesses point to the pressure being telekinetic in origin: see Case Number 416/A/Wilson, Catherine Anne.  
  
Witness Statement of Anthony Matthews. Made 25/4/1999 11:00 hours.  
  
"My full name is Anthony Michael Matthews, but I'm known as Tony. I am seventeen years old and I am a student at Portland High School.  
  
"Cathy and me have been friends since grade school. Our families live in the same street, and we grew up together. Even when we started high school, we stayed friends. She would tell me how to dress and set me up with her girlfriends, and I'd give her boyfriends the once-over to make sure they treated her right. We used to study together: she'd help me with Math and I'd correct her spelling and grammar.  
  
"We were in the library studying when the shooting started at about two PM. I thought it was fireworks or a cap gun or something, but Cathy wasn't so sure. Then a kid burst in covered with blood, screaming something about how Donny Osborne had a gun, and was killing people.  
  
"Everyone knows Donny. He's one of those creepy loner types, the ones that wear Army fatigues and black trench coats and only wash their hair once every six months. I know his parents; they're nice people, and they didn't deserve a son like Donny. Everything that happened, he always had a scapegoat to blame. Like if he failed a test, it was because the teacher hated him. He was into all the hate groups: KKK, FOH, SCAM, the White Americans Against Everyone Else, you name it. So when Corey Bennett burst into the library covered in some poor kid's blood and screamed Donny was killing people, none of us were really surprised. Scared and horrified, yes. But not really surprised. Donny had been expelled the week before for bringing a petrol bomb to school, and he'd been threatening to do something.  
  
"Corey said Donny wanted to "purify the school", "eliminate all the unclean elements". With Donny that meant anyone who'd ever crossed him. He had a Hate List on his Web Site: it covered nearly half the damn school. Cathy used to hack into his page and screw around with it: she was good at that kind of thing. It used to drive him nuts.  
  
"There were about twenty of us in the library, all pretty much seniors. We had finals coming up, so we were actually using study hall to study. We were all pretty damn scared: some were crying, some looked really pale, and Corey's teeth were chattering so much they sounded like castanets. We could hear the shooting coming closer, and people screaming. Then it all went quiet, which was worse, 'cause we didn't know what was going on. Then Bill Thornton from the football team said he'd take a look. He looked out the window, but couldn't see down the hall So he opened the library door a crack and peeked out through it, and then opened it wider and stuck his head out. We were all expecting him to get his head blown off right then, but nothing happened. He looked up and down the hall, pulled his head back in and gave us the thumbs up. And then Donny shot him through the door.  
  
"The police said he shot Bill with the rifle. To us it was like he'd used a fucking cannon. Bits of wood and glass from the door flew everywhere, as well as bits of brain and bone and stuff from poor Bill's head. There was blood everywhere. I grabbed Cathy and Corey and pushed them under a table. It was crazy, people were crying and screaming and trying to run, but there was nowhere to run to.  
  
"Then Donny burst in like some weedy wannabe Dirty Harry. He was completely out of his tree, giggling and laughing, and there were bits of foam in the corners of his mouth. He looked like a crack head or something, you know? He was getting off on killing people, the sick prick. He shot two more people as they tried to run past him.  
  
"Things get a bit hazy after that. There was so much noise and smoke and blood everywhere. I saw Donny kicking Bill's almost headless body and spitting on him. I remember seeing Janet Schneider lying on the floor in a pool of blood and thinking it was a hell of a stain to get out of her cheerleader outfit. Ming Tran had been shot in the knee and was trying to crawl under a table when Donny shot him in the back, calling him a gook.  
  
"I was under the table with Cathy and Corey watching Donny rampaging around the room. He was so wired he couldn't stand still. He dragged Estella Martinez out from under a table and he put the shotgun under her chin and shot her face off. I'll never forget it as long as I live. Her blood splattered all over me. That's when Cathy said she wasn't going to let him kill anyone else. She was as scared as the rest of us: she didn't look like a hero. But that's what she is. A hero, pure and simple.  
  
"I knew Cath was a mutant, a telekinetic. She could move things by thinking about it. She wasn't very strong- the most she could lift was a kitchen chair- and her force fields didn't last long, but she went out there all the same because it was the only way any of us were going to get out there alive. She told me to get everyone out, and then went out and grabbed Donny and put her force field around them both because she didn't know how to project it.  
  
"I got everyone out. I couldn't do anything else, and I knew she wouldn't be able to hold it for long. I heard Donny shouting at her, calling her mutie scum and freak, and then there was a shot and Cath screamed. I was going to run back in there, but these cops showed up and grabbed me and hustled us out of the building.  
  
"I don't care what people think about mutants. If Cathy hadn't been one, we would have all been killed in there. That's what Donny was going to do. If Cath hadn't done what she did, I wouldn't be sitting here telling you all this. She's the hero, not me."  
  
Official Press Release Friends of Humanity. 28/4/1999.  
  
"While we do not condone the killing of innocent humans, the Friends of Humanity would like to offer their support to the family of Donny Osborne, who was murdered by a mutant. Donny's actions were ill-advised, but arose out of an honest desire to protect others from the mutant threat. He will be considered a martyr to the cause."  
  
Eisenhower Park Sunday, 30/4/99: 2:15 p.m.  
  
"Last Tuesday, at approximately this time, a terrible tragedy was unfolding at our local high school. By now you all know the details, of how one unstable and disgruntled student opened fire in a classroom and commenced a shooting spree that would last an hour and a half. At the end of it, thirty eight people would be dead, and twelve injured. We are here today to remember those dead, to pray for the recovery of the injured and to pay tribute to a young woman who sacrificed her life so that the killing might stop." The priest on the open-air stage wiped his eyes with his handkerchief and swallowed before continuing.  
  
"Many of you knew Catherine Wilson as "that mutie girl". You shunned and harassed her. Some of you made abusive telephone calls and damaged her house. Some of your children taunted her at school. All because she refused to hide what she was. And despite all this, Cathy had no hesitation in using those powers that earned her so much hate to protect some of those very tormentors." There was a low murmur as people in the large crowd stirred uneasily. "Cathy was no terrorist, no mutant menace. Nor was she a superhero, an X-Man. Her powers were weak, her training minimal. She knew she stood a good chance of being killed. But she went ahead and did it all the same. And for this, she shall be remembered, as will all the victims of this senseless act of violence and hatred."  
  
Taken from Cathy Wilson's Diary, dated 11/3/99.  
  
". I don't hate them for being frightened. I was scared to death when I found out I was a mutant. And it is a scary thing: these young kids getting these powers that could destroy the world or something. But I can't let myself by ruled by fear. If there's anything I can do to stop people hating mutants, I'll do it, no matter what the cost."  
  
The End.  
  
Pretty heavy, I know. Why don't you go hug somebody now? You probably need it. 


End file.
